Deck of playing cards



H. w. JOHNSON 2,582,544

DECK OF PLAYING CARDS Jan. 15, 1952 Filed May 15, 1947 u: BASS T G BA YHES.

HANNA W. donusofl A1140 guns Patented Jan. 15, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DECK F PLAYING CARDS Hanna W. Johnson, Des Moines, Iowa Application May 15, 1947, Serial No. 748,227

Claims. 1

The present invention relates to a card game and more particularly to a musical educational card game.

The primary objects of the instant invention are to provide a card game in which by the recurrent playing thereof, the notes of both the treble and bass clefs may be more easily recognizable for easier and quicker music reading; to provide such a card game in which not only the notes on each staff may be learned but the notes both above and below the treble and bass clefs may be learned; to provide such a card game wherein the notes are maintained in a single octave arrangement and not so involved that the players lose interest in the game; to provide such a card game wherein the players learn to reco nize octaves at a glance; to provide such a card game wherein in asking for a card from other players, the player must designate the exact location of the note on the stafi in the card asked for and therefore must bring to mind the exact location of each note as the cards are requested.

Other objects and advantages of the card game will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a face view of one of the cards of the deck of cards showing the treble clef;

Figure 2 is a face view of three cards of the deck on a smaller scale and showing a so-called "book on the note A in the treble clef;

Figure 3 is a face view of a card showing the note G in the bass clef;

Figure 4 is a representative view showing the upper and lower range of notes learned in the treble clef through the playing of the game;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 but showing the upper and lower range of notes learned in the bass clef; and

Figure 6 is a chart showing the notes comprising a book of three each to make a complete deck of cards.

Referring to the details of the drawings in which like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 shows a card I having a staff 2 printed near the top of the card with a treble sign 3 printed thereon and another staff 4 is reversely printed near the lower end of the card with a treble sign 5 thereon to be in an upright position when the card is reversely faced. This particular card has two G quarter notes 6 and 1 and one G whole note 8 on each stafl and each adjacent pair of these three notes are an octave apart.

Each card printed with a treble clef has three adjacent notes printed thereon with the notes an octave apart. These cards include the notes starting from the lowest noteG in the third space below the staifto the highest noteF in the fourth space above the staffas shown in Figure 4.

As shown in Figure 3, some of the cards 9 are printed with a staff l0 and H at the top and bottom respectively of the card with a bass sign l2 and I3 printed respectively thereon in such relation that the staff and bass sign at the top of the card are in upright position. Each card with a bass clef printed thereon also has two quarter notes [4 and I5 and a whole note l6 printed thereon, adjacent notes being an octave apart.

Each of the bass clef cards 9 is printed with three notes of the scale with adjacent notes an octave apart. These cards include the notes starting from the lowest noteG in the fourth space below the staffto the highest noteF in the third space above the staffas shown in Figure 5.

In playing this educational game, a number of players each have a like plurality of cards and each player in turn requests a card from any one of the other players whereby he-the playermay complete a book, the player obtaining the greatest number of books being the winner of the game. A representative book is shown in Figure 2 there being three such cards for each note of the scale, both in the treble clef and in the bass clef.

Each of the three cards for each note has each adjacent pair of the three notes an octave apart with the whole note being the lowest note on one card, the middle note on a second card and the highest note on a third card. With each note A, B, C, D, E, F and G of the scale having three cards each in both the treble clef and the bass clef with the whole notes in three different locations, this necessitates a deck of forty-two cards.

A book" is a set of three cards all of which show the same notes in the same clef but, of course, with the whole notes in three different locations. Thus a person holding one or two cards of a book may request in turn other cards of the same book from other players.

The game is played very much like the wellknown game of Authors, the object of the game being to collect complete books or sets of these cards, each containing the same notes of the same clef by calling for cards from other players. The pack consists of the fourteen books or sets of three cards each showing the same notes in the same clef, half of the cards in the treble clef and half in the bass clef, making a total of forty-two cards.

A dealer is selected who shuffles and deals the cards, one at a time, until each player has five cards. The cards that are left over after dealing five to each player become the stock from which the players draw during the game. The player to the dealers left begins by calling on any other player for a card that will help him complete a book of which he already holds one or two cards. If the player holds a card with the whole note in one position or two cards with the whole note of the same pitch name in the same clef, he may call for the card with the whole note of the same pitch name and clef that he doesnt have, giving the pitch name, clef and exact location of the whole note desired such as, the treble clef A on the first line above the staff or the bass clef C on the second line below the staff.

It will be noted that in giving the exact descriptive location of the whole note on the card desired, the player in so doing somewhat memo rizes or impresses his mind with the location of that note and hence the value of the game as an aid in note reading.

If the player called upon has the desired card, he gives it to the player calling for it who continues calling until he fails to get the card asked for who then draws a card from the top of the stock pile. If he draws the card called for, he shows the card and continues calling until unsuccessful, after which he then draws another card. When he fails in getting the desired card, either by calling or drawing, the turn passes to the next player.

The game is at an end as soon as one of the players is out of cards and the player who has the most books at the end of the game is the winner.

A most delightful game may thus be played that is enjoyed by persons of all ages and in which the notes of both clefs in a wide range are easily learned since it is more diflicult in ordinary practice to learn the notes above and below the staff because they are not played as often but still it is necessary to read these notes as readily as the notes within the staff.

Having thus described my invention and one modified formthereof it is considered that other changes may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and intent of the invention, the

scope of which is defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A musical card game comprising a plurality of cards with a staff printed thereon, the cards comprising books of three cards each, each of the cards of each book having three pitch notes thereon positioned on its staff and differing from the pitch notes of the other books, adjacent notes of each card being an octave apart, one of the three pitch notes being of a different time value than the other two notes, the different time value note of any one card of a book being of a different octave note than the corresponding note of each of the other two cards of the book.

2. A musical card game comprising a plurality of cards with a staff printed thereon, the cards comprising books of three cards each, one book for each note of the scale, each of the cards of each book having three pitch notes positioned on the staif thereof with adjacent notes an octave apart, one of the three pitch notes being of a different time value than the other two notes on each card, the different time value note on each of the cards of a book being a different note on each card.

3. A musical card game comprising a plurality of cards with a staff printed thereon, the cards comprising books of three cards each, each of the cards of each book having three pitch notes thereon positioned on its staff and differing from the pitch notes of the other books, adjacent notes of each card being an octave apart, two of the notes being quarter notes and one note a Whole note on each card, the whole note being a different octave note on each of the three cards of a book.

4. A musical card game comprising a plurality of cards with a staff printed thereon, the cards comprising books of three cards each, a treble sign printed on the staff of some of the cards and a bass sign printed on the staff of other cards, a book for each note of the scale in the treble and in the bass, each of the cards of each book having three notes positioned on the staif thereof with adjacent notes an octave apart, one of the notes having a different time value than the other two notes on each card, the different time value note being of a different octave on each of the three cards of a book.

5. A musical card game comprising a plurality of cards with a staif printed thereon, the cards being printed in books of three cards each, the.

cards of each book having three notes printed on the staff thereof of the same pitch denomination but with one note of each of the three cards of each book being of a dilferent time value than the time value of a note of the same pitch value on either of the other two cards of each book and with each upper and lower note of each card being two octaves apart, the pitch denomination of each book differing from that of the other books.

HANNA W. JOHNSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 621,323 Chamberlin Mar. 21, 1899 702,298 Frederickson June 10, 1902 

